Bosnia: “I would like that you are closer to come to my house and eat my cookies and have a cup of coffee.”

“We in ‘Women for Women International’ call this farewell letter. My experience in this program is:

• it helped me to appreciate myself a lot more, as I did 12 years ago.
• it gave me back a period of my life that I’ve lost, and I didn’t realize that until I came here. I wasn’t aware of all the things I’ve lost in my character and all of that affected me as a person
• I became braver and much more determined in my fight through life and finding solutions for my problems
• I have a new viewpoint for many things in life and if I put it in one reason, I got out from the monotonous life style to one that really makes sense.” ~Jasmina, Bosnia.

“In my alones I needed something to keep me occupied and that was the reason why I have become a WWI member… It is good that you have a blissful marriage with Marc. I had a wonderful marriage but my husband passed away in 1995 after hard illness and I was left like a tree without any branches. You have made my life more meaningful these days.” ~Latifa, Bosnia.

“After Ramadan, our favourite holiday Bajram comes. During Bajram we visit our relatives and buy presents to each other. We put on our best clothes and we try to look as pretty as we can.” ~Zirafeta, Bosnia.

“I would like that you are closer to come to my house and eat my cookies and have a cup of coffee.” ~Mandzuka, Bosnia.

AND a recipe for…..

“Bosnian Pot Dish~

 1.5 kilo of lamb or beef, 3 potatoes, 3 tomatoes, 1/2 an eggplant, 2 or 3 onions, 1 garlic, 2 or 3 carrots, 1 parsley, 1 cabbage, salt, pepper, spices, paprika 1 or 2 deciliters of water

• Cut meat into big Pieces, cut vegetables into cubes. Use if you have pot made of clay but you can also use ordinary pot. Put into it a line of meat then cabbage and then a line of meat and vegetables in that way. Put spices between mean and vegetables. At the end, put some oil and water. Cover the pot with a piece of paper and then make some holes. Then decrease temperature and then cook it for 4 hours.” ~Zijada, Bosnia.

Rwanda: Ladies are the Hearts of a Country

To my Beloved Sponsor Sister,

How are you doing over there? And how is life?

It is a pleasure to me to have the opportunity and write to you so that I get to know your news. Did you get my letter? Thank you so much for the sponsorship. I have been getting and it had been very useful and I thank you for your good wish to me of having a bright future. We have a saying in our language that ladies are hearts of a family. So it is clear that they can even be the heart of a country.

But in accordance to genocide that took place here women faced a lot of trouble. They were raped. Their husbands were killed. Their children were killed, even their parents and friends. They were made victims of AIDS due to raping. The government used all possible ways to help them. We have got a big number in the leadership.

 Secondly, I am happy to meet you. I am called Claudine. I am a cultivator of things. I tried to get domestic animals, 2 goats and 2 rabbits. So after garden work I look after my animals since all the children are at school. It is good you want to assist the poor women who can’t support themselves. I didn’t get the chance of going to school because my parents were too poor. They are no longer in existence. I pray to God that I become stronger. I am sure my prayers will do a big job to help me lead a better life on this earth. I don’t feel happy when my friends go to bed with out food or if they have other problems.

In Rwanda here we lead a poor life. There were no friendships among the people, every person was alone to the extent of genocide broke out in 1994.This is how I came to loose my family where I originate from and from my husband’s side. I pray hard that it won’t happen to any other person. We should be living in a good world without hatred so that our children will be in a happy world. Let me stop here. Have a good time. God bless you till next time.

 ~Claudine

DRC: “Now I have hope”

Dear my beloved Peter.

I am very happy to have this chance of thanking you very much for having allowed me in your family.  After hearing that you have allowed me in your family I was very much pleased.  Thank you very much.  My God bless you very much.

I wish to tell you a bit of me.  I was born in a poor family.  After a short time mam passed away when I was still very young then later dad married another wife who mistreated me very much.  Then I disappeared from home and went to the capital city Kigali where I started to struggle for survival.  Here I started a hard life that was in 1984.  Later I was pregnant and gave birth to a baby without a husband.  This is when I started real poverty up to now.  But now I have a hope because of your sponsorship which you are sending to me.  I am sure it is going to help me from this poverty.  Thank you very much.

I am again thanking Women for Women program for having joined me with you and for their lessons which they are teaching me.  They are very useful to me.  I have a hope that this sponsorship is going to be productive and that it is going to help me from the poverty which I have been living in for the whole of my past life with the help of these lessons I have been taught in this program.

Here poor people are in problems because of how our country is developing at high speed people who have knowledge and who are able to work are becoming more and more rich, but we are also trying to see that we are not left very far away from others. Rwanda is a country with a good vision now.

I would like to have your family photograph so that I can see them.  I will aslo try to send mine to you.

Dear my beloved Peter, how are you doing over there in America.  I was very happy to hear that you have completed your presidential elections very peacefully.  We Rwandans we have been praying for your elections all the Christians in their services were praying the election in America.  You have showed the world that you really have democracy.  Here in Rwanda we are also preparing for the presidential elections next year in 2010.  We also need your prayers so that it may run smoothly.

Dear my friend I heard that in your country of America you have a lot of coldness and snow.  How are you now is it very cold at the moment?  I wish I could reach there and see that place and meet you with your family.

I will always pray for your protection.  I have two children one is called Uwimbabazi Clarissa and the 2nd is called Uwera Jeannine.  They are all greeting you  and wishing to see your children.

Send my greetings to your family as well as your friends.

Thank you may peace and blessing from God continue to be with you.

From the one who loves you very much.

Marie

Doilies from Bosnia

Sometimes sisters from Bosnia send doilies they made to show their appreciation to their sponsors.  Here are some examples of their work.

Letter Quotes: Bosnia, DRC, Afghanistan, and Rwanda

“I’m writing you with great happiness and joy especially after I received a letter from you. You can’t even imagine how excited I was reading your words. I’m very happy for the opportunity to get to know you better. I think that you are a very kind and loving woman, very human person and a wonderful wife and mother. I’m proud to call you my friend. …I love to cook and bake and I hope you will have the opportunity to taste my cake one day.” –Greta from Bosnia

“I am so grateful for the sponsorship fund that you are providing me with on a monthly basis. You do not know me but you willingly accept to assist me. May God bless you for your kindness. Please, let not become tired of doing good. Only God will pay you back because good deed never goes amiss.” –Angele from DRC

“I want to thank you very much for your decision to help women who can not succeed by themselves. That means a lot to us, women, here in Bosnia. Here, men are a head of a family and women just serve to give birth to children and do the housework. We fight for our rights and the organization ‘Women for Women’ helps us in that fight.” –Dženana from Bosnia

“I am a student, the money you send me I buy that stationeries for myself, I am very happy and thankful of your funds and the cooperation of Women for Women International that provides us a useful program. I am very interested to be educated in order to help hopeless women in the future.” –Bibi Raqia from Afghanistan

“I was able to use the support in a wise way that I earned profit. I sell cheap commodities. It is a small business. You love me and my family of 3. We now get soap, salt and clothes in a simpler way. …I dropped out of school without a diploma due to lack of school [fees], but I promise you that if I use well this support, I will get the money to take me back to school. I close here wishing you a…year full of milk and honey.” –Marceline from Rwanda

“At this time of depression your help means so much especially since I do not have a job any more. I used to work, had a pay but not to all this has come an end. I was so disappointed. But with your help I manage to forget on my problems and life seems much better. When we all get together at the WWI we have better and better time every single meeting. We are gaining new knowledge and we are exchanging our lives and problems.” –Cynthia from Bosnia

“I am six months in this project and I am so satisfied. I am satisfied with the education that we have here, with teachers and topics that we are talking about here. I am also satisfied with those women in the program that are trying hard to build self-confidence and self respect in this hard time. I have a great time and I love coming to socialize with them. No matter how much I think that I know everything, I learn new things each time. I am so thankful to you for everything you are doing for me and all those women around me. That is so noble gesture from you to do such generous things for us.” –Elizabeta from Bosnia

“I’m writing you with great happiness and joy especially after I received a letter from you.  You can’t even imagine how excited I was reading your words.  I’m very happy for the opportunity to get to know you better.  I think that you are a very kind and loving woman, very human person and a wonderful wife and mother.  I’m proud to call you my friend.  …I love to cook and bake and I hope you will have the opportunity to taste my cake one day.” –Greta from Bosnia

“I am so grateful for the sponsorship fund that you are providing me with on a monthly basis.  You do not know me but you willingly accept to assist me.  May God bless you for your kindness.  Please, let not become tired of doing good.  Only God will pay you back because good deed never goes amiss.” –Angele from DRC

“I want to thank you very much for your decision to help women who can not succeed by themselves.  That means a lot to us, women, here in Bosnia.  Here, men are a head of a family and women just serve to give birth to children and do the housework.   We fight for our rights and the organization ‘Women for Women’ helps us in that fight.” –Dženana from Bosnia

“I am a student, the money you send me I buy that stationeries for myself, I am very happy and thankful of your funds and the cooperation of Women for Women International that provides us a useful program.  I am very interested to be educated in order to help hopeless women in the future.” –Bibi Raqia from Afghanistan

“I was able to use the support in a wise way that I earned profit.  I sell cheap commodities.  It is a small business.  You love me and my family of 3.  We now get soap, salt and clothes in a simpler way.  …I dropped out of school without a diploma due to lack of school [fees], but I promise you that if I use well this support, I will get the money to take me back to school.  I close here wishing you a…year full of milk and honey.” –Marceline from Rwanda

“At this time of depression your help means so much especially since I do not have a job any more.  I used to work, had a pay but not to all this has come an end.  I was so disappointed.  But with your help I manage to forget on my problems and life seems much better.  When we all get together at the WWI we have better and better time every single meeting.  We are gaining new knowledge and we are exchanging our lives and problems.” –Cynthia from Bosnia

“I am six months in this project and I am so satisfied.  I am satisfied with the education that we have here, with teachers and topics that we are talking about here.  I am also satisfied with those women in the program that are trying hard to build self-confidence and self respect in this hard time.  I have a great time and I love coming to socialize with them.  No matter how much I think that I know everything, I learn new things each time.  I am so thankful to you for everything you are doing for me and all those women around me.  That is so noble gesture from you to do such generous things for us.” –Elizabeta from Bosnia

Letter Quotes: Rwanda, DRC, and a sponsor

Rwanda:

“I was so pleased with your support in that whenever I think about you, I look at it and kiss it. This makes me so happy. Thierry also knows that he has a person who loves him and sent him birds; he always tells me that we should come to visit you, but I tell him that it’s not possible and show him the picture.” —Jeanne Marie

“What one can say is that about the genocide effects; am an orphan and lost almost all my relatives. What hurts me the most is that I didn’t have any chance to go to school like other children. Because the one who could have taken care of me wasn’t there; and this brings me great sorrow. But now we are living in total peace and security and unity with people who killed our families.” —Olive

“Embrey I love you soooo much!!!! Because you improved my life from deep poverty and now am doing well, and my children have enough they need for school; they have no problem; they have uniform, books, pens and shoes, they have no problem. Even the one who is in high school, we are looking for his needs and soon we shall get them, no problem. This is all because of you Embrey!” —Donatha

“I am very thankful for what you have sending, on another hand I was very sad when I learnt that you don’t have a child, if that was God’s plan there is nothing else you can do about it. I thought that if would be possible I would give you one of my children, and you stay with her, so that when you come back home you find someone at home, when you go for work you leave someone at home. But again where shall we meet and talk about it?” —Fatuma

DRC:

“I’d like to tell you that there were many things that I learned and which is too interesting for me, such as women’s rights and DRC constitution; I didn’t know that a woman can speak in front of many people, that she has the right of being educated as a man.” —Jeanne

From a sponsor:

“I am so happy to get your letter…. I am ashamed that I did not send you letters. In the past month I have had some troubles—I lost my job and I had to move away from the town where I lived, and away from my family…. I thought of you many times when I was afraid and lonely. I thought: Noella has troubles too, and she has the courage to face them. I can do the same. So you have helped me, even though you are far away and we have never met.” —Nichelle